Friday, December 28, 2012

Practical Tips for Productive Living

Here are 75 happiness quotes gathered from our sister site, Everyday Life Lessons, to brighten your day and move your mindset in a positive direction.

Smile every chance you get. Not because life has been easy,
perfect, or exactly as you had anticipated, but because you choose to be
happy and grateful for all the good things you do have and all the
problems you know you don’t have.

Never let a bad day make you feel like you have a bad life.

Tell the negativity committee that meets inside your head to sit down and shut up. (Read Learned Optimism.)

A bad attitude is like a flat tire, you can’t get very far until you change it.

In a world where you can be anything you want, BE YOURSELF.

The more you love your decisions, the less you need others to love them.

It’s important to make someone happy, and it’s important to start with yourself.

Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design into the present.

If you settle for just anything, you’ll never know what you’re truly worthy of.

Sometimes life gives you two options: losing yourself or losing someone else. Regardless of the situation, don’t lose yourself.

If your happiness depends on what somebody else does, you do have a pretty big problem.

Whatever someone did to you in the past has no power over the present. Only you give it power.

Don’t worry too much about people who don’t worry about you.

Know your worth! When you give yourself to someone who doesn’t
respect you, you surrender pieces of your soul that you’ll never get
back.

Sometimes you’ve got to emotionally let go of the things that once
meant a lot to you, so you can move beyond the past and the pains they
bring you, and open the next chapter in your life.

If you want to get over a problem, stop mulling it over and talking
about it. Your mind affects your mouth, and your mouth affects your
mind. It’s nearly impossible to move beyond something when you’re
obsessing over it.

If it is detrimental to you emotionally, physically and spiritually,
what choice do you have but to let go and flourish with self-respect.

Saying goodbye is one of the most painful ways to solve a problem. But sometimes it’s necessary.

You define your own life. Don’t let other people write your life’s story for you.

Don’t be afraid of change. Oftentimes you will lose something good, and then gain something even better.

Worry is a massive waste of time and energy. It doesn’t change
anything. All it does is steal your joy and hinder your ability to make
positive changes.

If you want to be happy and bright, let go of your need to always be right.

In life, you usually get what you ask for and it rarely comes in the package you think it’s supposed to come in.

If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.

Life does NOT have to be perfect to be wonderful.

You look the best when you wear your smile. There is no beauty like the one that comes from inside you.

Grudges are a waste of perfect happiness.

The time spent on hating is the time lost for living a peaceful,
happy life. It is a habit that controls what you see, what you say,
what you do, and ultimately what you become.

Sometimes you need to be alone to reflect on life. Take time out to take care of yourself. You deserve it.

The good things we build end up building us.

You cannot change what you refuse to confront.

The difference between who you are and who you want to be, is what you do.

If you want your life to change, your choices and actions must change. Every day brings a chance to start over.

Good things don’t come to those who wait. Good things come to those who pursue the goals and dreams they believe in.

Don’t make a decision based solely on popularity. Just because other
people are doing it doesn’t mean it’s the best choice for you.

Following all the rules leaves a completed checklist. Following your heart achieves a completed you. (Read The Happiness Project.)

Knowing yourself is one thing, but truly believing and living as
yourself is another. With so much social conditioning in our society,
we sometimes forget who we are. Don’t lose yourself out there.

Of all the things that can be stolen from you – your possessions,
your youth, your health, your words, your rights – what no one can ever
take from you is your freedom to choose what you will believe in, and
who and what your heart will love.

When you find yourself cocooned in isolation and despair and cannot
find your way out of the darkness, remember that this is similar to the
place where caterpillars go to grow their wings.

Take all the time you need to heal emotionally. Moving on doesn’t
take a day; it takes lots of little steps to be able to break free of
your broken self.

When you can forgive, yourself and others, and stop the imprisonment, you’re creating the love of your life.

What you believe has more power than what you dream or wish or hope for. You become what you believe.

Keep your heart open to dreams. For as long as there’s a dream,
there is hope, and as long as there is hope, there is joy in living.

When you try to control everything, you enjoy nothing. Sometimes
you just need to relax, breathe, let go, and just live in the moment.

Even though you cannot control everything that happens, you can
control your attitude toward what happens. And in that, you will be
mastering change rather than allowing it to master you.

Life will never be perfect, no matter how hard you try. Even if you
pour your heart and soul into it, you will never have that perfection
you seek. There will always be broken hearts, there will always be days
where nothing goes right. But you must accept and learn that even the
most imperfect things will always be made better with love and
laughter. (Read Stumbling on Happiness.)

Satisfaction is not always the fulfillment of what you want; it is the realization of how blessed you are for what you have.

Sometimes you just have to look back at your past and smile about how far you’ve come.

Just because it didn’t last forever, doesn’t mean it wasn’t worth your while.

It’s not that everything will be easy or exactly as you had
expected, but you must just choose to be grateful for all that you have,
and happy that you got a chance to live this life, no matter how it
turns out.

Thursday, December 20, 2012

This article's subject, 'sensitivity' is near and dear to me
prompting me to share it with you. I believe teaching/ education and
inspiration are elements to understanding and improving our lives. Perhaps this
topic doesn't fit for you though you know someone it might, please share.

Sense and Sensitivity

They tear up at phone commercials. They brood for days over
a gentle ribbing. They know what you're feeling before you do. Their nerve
cells are actually hyperreactive. Say hello to the Highly Sensitive
Person—you've probably already made him cry.

Excerpts: "Today, science is validating a group of
people whose sensitivity surfaces in many domains of life. Attuned to
subtleties of all kinds, they have a complex inner life and need time to
process the constant flow of sensory data that is their inheritance. Some may
be particularly prone to the handful of hard-to-pin-down disorders like chronic
fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia"

"Internalized by a highly sensitive child, ridicule can
snowball into depression. Likewise, a “Nice job!” atop a book report might not
seem like a game-changer, but to a sensitive child a little encouragement can
have outsize effects, motivating a child to reproduce that behavior—say, by
studying well for the next test. School and parenting practices can
dramatically shape the development of highly sensitive children, who can thrive
spectacularly in a mildly encouraging classroom or struggle endlessly in a
slightly discouraging one, while a non-sensitive child would wind up about the
same regardless of slight variations in the environment."

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

What
would you do if someone swore that you knew the secret of life and put
you on a stage to tell it? The Totally Hidden Video television show set
up a hysterical prank on precisely this theme. For the gag, a Federal
Express driver was asked to deliver a package to a religious temple
(fabricated by the television show). Unknown to the driver, the
pranksters had taken a photo of him and replicated it as a painted
portrait, depicting the young man dressed in the royal regalia of the
fictitious sect.

When the delivery man arrived, the disciples (actors hired by the program) took one look at him and began buzzing excitedly.

They
ushered him to the front of the sanctuary and invited him to sit on a
plush cushion of honor. Then they revealed to him that he was the chosen
one, the long-awaited prophet foretold in their scriptures. To allay
any doubts, a servant parted the altar curtain where, lo and behold,
hung the majestic portrait of the deliverer, "painted by a visionary
centuries ago."

"Please," begged a disciple, "give us some words of wisdom."

The
driver surveyed the portrait and looked over the throng of expectant
devotees. A hush fell over the assembly. He sat down on the pillow, took
a deep breath, and spoke: "Life," the sage explained, "is like a
river."

The disciples "oohed" and "aahed" on the heels of his utterance, hanging fervently on every sacred word.

"Sometimes
life flows easily, and sometimes you encounter rocks and rapids," the
guru illustrated, "but if you hang in there and have faith, you will
arrive at the ocean of your dreams."

Again the students swooned with ecstasy. More "oohs" and "aahs." This was indeed the day they had been waiting for!

"Well, that's about it," Swami Fedex curtly concluded, "I have to go now and make some more deliveries."

Reluctantly
the devotees rose, bowed reverently, and sheepishly cleared the way for
the anointed one. Amid profuse veneration he made his way to the door.

Now
here is the amazing postscript to the story: the program played the
same trick on several Fedex drivers, each of whom found profound words
the moment he sat on the cushion. The invitation to wax profound brought
forth the inner wisdom in these unassuming fellows. Deep within our
heart, each of us knows the truth. The answers we seek, the power we
strive for, and the acknowledgement we attempt to gain, abide inside us.
Given the opportunity (being placed on the cushion) or the challenge
(being pushed against a wall) we know what we need to know, to do what
we need to do.

Share the Wisdom:

Latest Community Insights

Always Had It, Always WillImagine
this prank were played on you - what would your deepest words of wisdom
be? When receiving the honor that the drivers received, how do we also
keep their awareness that deliveries have to be made, and avoid getting
trapped by the attention we get? Can you share a personal story of a
time when you were expected to share your deepest wisdom, and what arose
in response?

Saturday, December 8, 2012

Today, my birthday, December 7th, represents a milestone in history —
Pearl Harbor Day. It also happens to be a shockingly clear milestone in
my life. I won't reveal how many miles, but trust me, it's lots of
stones indicating lots of miles.

The image in the mirror
belies those travels, but the image in my mind and heart makes it
pretty clear that our visit to this dimension is not indefinite (of
course most teenagers will argue that fact).

It's become
increasingly clear in my recent years that the most important benefit
we can derive from these milestones is the ability to open ourselves to
some greater meaning to our time here. Some people do this naturally
and early. Most people are too darn busy with making money, making
families, making careers, or just trying to make sense of it all to
focus on a greater meaning for their existence.

I don't think
I'm alone in wanting to make my time on this planet serve some purpose
beyond myself. As I become aware of the multitudes of people who are
opting out of passionless careers to enter some form of "healing" work,
I know I'm not alone. And I
don't mean healing from the standpoint of physical health, although
that could be included. I'm talking about healing people's minds and
spirits (and bank accounts), healing animals, healing the environment
and the planet. The Universal parent that encompasses all of the above
is...healing consciousness. And it all starts with healing our
own.

Michael Jackson's Man in the Mirror
expressed this beautifully. He didn't write the lyrics but no other
talent could have offered us the song with such brilliance. It
represents a profound understanding of our individual capacity to care
about others on a global level and to initiate change in the world by
making the change within ourselves first. Below is the link to the
performance that only Michael could deliver. It highlights some of the
greatest people in our history who have changed our world (as well as
some fainting teenagers).

Today we remember Pearl Harbor, but I'd also like to remember the "pearl harbored" by Michael's song.

This
is all about becoming aware of what's transpiring beyond ourselves and
our needs. This doesn't mean setting aside our own needs. To the
contrary, I've discovered that not only by healing my consciousness can
I heal others — but remarkably, by healing others, I heal myself!

We
don't need to be a great talent or historical figure or even famous or
global to do healing while we are here. A line from the Talmud,
the book of Jewish law, reads: "Save one life, save the world." I don't
know the Talmud, I've only heard of that line, but I think I now
understand its meaning. I felt when I began to teach the Feel Free to
Prosper program nine years ago, that if I could only help one person
change their life for the better, it would all be worth it. It would be
worth giving up a business making tens of thousands of dollars on a
single corporate event in order to help individuals with the knowledge
of how I changed my own life for the better. I became driven with the
desire to give meaning to the time I have left here. I didn't forego
the idea of making sizable profits. I merely decided to find a way to
make those profits in a way that was consistent with my spiritually
maturing values. I have no issues about even taking my teachings into
the corporate world. Only the purpose now would be to prosper
businesses with prosperity teachings, not elaborate partying (my former
corporate business).

Today on this milestone birthday, I am
taking a good look at the Woman in the Mirror and asking Infinite
Intelligence for the guidance and direction to continue my chosen
mission and further its success. I am asking for the ability to make
the changes in my own consciousness that will make a difference for
others too.

The Woman in the Mirror knows that success is not
based on the latest brouhaha over marketing tools and networking skills
or following every fad or trend like a lemming. She knows that success
is born of a mother — Prosperity Consciousness — and a father — a Wisdom and Intelligence beyond our own. The rest are just details.

Anyone can talk to the Man or Woman in the Mirror. Milestone birthday optional.

I'm Starting With The Man InThe MirrorIf You Wanna Make The WorldA Better Place

Marilyn Jenett, an accomplished business owner in the corporate arena,
founded the Feel Free to Prosper program to mentor and teach others to
become aligned with Universal laws and accept their right to prosper.
For more information, visit www.FeelFreetoProsper.com.